In the biggest anti-US demonstration since the end of the war, thousands of Shiite Muslims marched peacefully through Baghdad yesterday to protest the US occupation and reject what they feared would be a US-installed puppet government. US forces watched the rally but let it go on.

　　Up to 10,000 people rallied in front of a Sunni Muslim mosque in the capital's northern district of Azimiyah, then marched to the nearby Kadhamiya quarter, home to one of the holiest Shiite shrines in Iraq. Some carried portraits of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran and other noted Shiite clerics.

　　"We decided to gather outside a Sunni mosque to show unity between Shiites and Sunnis," said Rashid Hamdan, an organizer.

　　He said the procession was organized by religious groups from Baghdad's al-Thawra suburb - formerly known as Saddam City, where an estimated 2 million Shiites live.

　　Since Saddam Hussein was ousted by coalition troops last month, there has been a spate of smaller gatherings, some of them hundreds strong, demanding the occupying forces' withdrawal. But yesterday's march was the biggest in terms of numbers.

　　The crowd chanted "No Shiites and no Sunnis, just Islamic unity," sang religious songs, and carried banners reading "No to the foreign administration," and "We want honest Iraqis, not their thieves."

　　That appeared to be a reference to Ahmad Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress and one of the key players in the current round of US-led discussions to form a new government. He was convicted in 1992 by a Jordanian court of embezzlement and fraud, and some Iraqis have criticized him harshly. Chalabi says he was set up.

　　The noisy but peaceful protest appeared to be well-organized. Organizers sprayed participants with water to cool them off, and monitors followed the crowd to ensure that no violence occurred.

　　"What we are calling for is an interim government that represents all segments of Iraqi society," said Ali Salman, an activist.

　　At one point the crowd swelled to about 10,000 people, but many participants soon wandered off.

　　Small groups of US infantrymen watched the procession but did not intervene. Several soldiers were stationed on the rooftops around the shrine to observe the rally.